Imagine a rugged traveler, beaten and windswept, scuffling into town with nothing but the clothes on his back and an unusually well-maintained Guild acoustic guitar in his hand. He doesn't look like much-- a flashy hat maybe, tight jeans, but nothing about him really provokes a second glance. But when the stranger tosses off his coat and straps on his instrument, soul takes flight, the grooves flow like beer from the tap and everyone in the room sports a collective dropped jaw. Welcome to the music of High Heat.

A gifted and lyrical songwriter, Sean Hodge's free-flowing, labyrinthine guitar lines are complimented by the expansive landscape of Adam Bowers' steel guitar, the smooth, grounded funk of Ryan Lukas on the bass, and the up-tempo beat of Brian Huston behind the drums. Having graced the stages of Ashkenaz in Berkeley, the Boom Boom Room in San Francisco, and the Sweetwater and Peri's in Marin alongside such luminaries as Country Joe McDonald, Pete Sears (formerly of Jefferson Starship), and hippie legend Wavy Gravy, High Heat bridge the gap between hushed, intimate folk and lively, psychedelic groove-rock. Catch them on tour with Michael Kang of String Cheese Incident this summer.